Seven students in an experimental animation class at CCAD recently showed their work at the Flip Animation Festival, held in the United Kingdom at the end of October.

Established in 2004, Flip is a mix of all things animation. The festival provides educational workshops, feature film screenings, and spotlights on animation studios.

Tracy Robbins, associate professor of Animation, gave the assignment for her students to enter the festival’s Flippin’ Stings competition, which called for a 1o-second “animated sting” that had to use one of the festivals sound bites and the word “flip” or the festival logo.

“This was an amazing experience for the experimental animation class, where students incorporate a variety of materials such as small objects, clay, sand, collage, traditional drawing materials and digital tools into their work,” explained Robbins.

“I presented the competition the week it was due, so they didn’t have time to over think it.,” she added. “They had one class to work on the 10-second animation, then it had to be posted to the competition site within three days. They were able to use any style or technique and could even incorporate clips of animation that they had been working on. The students did a remarkable job with the challenge, especially considering that, for many of them, this was their first animation class. It allowed them to use the same process of many independent animators, who will incorporate the ideas, techniques and experiments from their personal work into professional projects. It drove home the fact, that, as animators, we can say something in 10 seconds, which is great to understand. As well, it was just exciting for all of us to know that the stings were being used in between sessions featuring Aardman Animation, Bill Plympton and many other inspirational animators at a festival in the UK.”

The students’ stings were shown at the festival between workshops, panels, and screenings. The students whose work was shown include sophomores in Animation Zach Brown, Xuan Shang, and Scott Ciprian; sophomores in Cinematic Arts Elizabeth Mort and Matt O’Grady; junior in Illustration Colleen McDonnell; and senior in Animation Shannon Beech.